The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1887-05-06
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Special Discourse to Store Clerks
and Their Customers.
Tce Early Trials If the Future Salesman
Patience and Submission to D.scip.
line Necessary-The Faults OF Em-
ployers-Sone Mean Customers.


line Necessary-The Faults OF Em-
ployers-Sons Mean Customers.
For the subject Of recent discourse al
the Brooklyn Tabernacle, Rev. .. De Witt
Talmage chose: "Behind the Counter:
~r, Trials and Encouragements of Sales
suen and Saleswomen." He took the two
following passages as his text:
And a certain woman named Lydia sellei
VI purple, Of the City OF Thyatira. which W or
Wiped God. heard US; whose heart the Lord
opened.-Acts xvi. Il.
s .est though q man diligent in his business!
He shall stand before lSings.-Proverbs xxi !.
s.
The first passage introduces to you
L. dia, a Christian merchantess. Her bu l.
ness is TO deal in purple cloths or silks
She is not giggling nonentity, but prac
tical woman, not ashamed to work for hel
living. All the other women of Philipp
aud Thyatira have been forgotten; bu,
God has made immortal in our text Lydia,
The Christian saleswoman.
The other text shows you man with
head, and hand. and heart, and foot, all
busy toiling on up until he gains prince
ly SUCCESS.
Seest thou man d.ligcnt in his business: He
email stand before Kings.
Great encouragement in these two pas
sages for men and women who will be
6usy, hut no solace for those who arc
waiting for good luck to show them. al
the foot of the rainbow, casket of buried
gold.
1t is folly for anybody in this world to
wait for something to turn up. 1t will
turn down. The law Of thrift is as in.
exorable as the law of the tides. Fortune,
She magician, may wave her arm in that
direction until castles and palaces come:
out she will. after awhile, invert the same
wand and all the splendors will vanish
INTO thin air. There are certain styles of
behavior which lea 4 to usefulness, honor
and permanent success. and there arc
certain STYLES of behavior which lead 10
dust. dishonor and moral default. would
like to fire the ambition of young people.
l have no sympathy with those who
would prepare young folks for life by
whiting down their expectations. That
nan or woman will be worth nothing &c
church or State who begins life cowed
down. The business of Christianity Is not
TO qucnch but to direct human ambition
Therefore it is that l come out this morn
ing and utter words of encouragement tC
those who are occupied as CLERKS in the
stores. and shops, and banking houses of
Che country.
In the first place, counsel clerks to re
&c 'mbcr that for the most part their
tle. 'kship is only school from which
they are to be GRADUATED. 1t takes about
eight years to get one Of the learned pro
LESSONS. L. takes about eight years to
get TO be a merchant. Some of you will
he clerks all your lives. bat ia, vast ma
jprity of YOU are only in transient posi-
tion. After awhile, some December day
the head men of the firm will call you in
to the back Office, and they will say tC
-or:
"Now, you have done well b. us: we
are going TO 10 well by you. We invite
you to have an interest in cur concern
You viii bow to that cdict very grace
fully. Getting into q street car to e
home, an Old comrade viii meet you and
say:
''What makes you look so happy to
night''
coz. you will say, nothing, nothing
But in few days your name will bios
som on the sign. Ether in the store oil
bank where you are now, or in some store
or binll, you will take a higher position
than that which You now occupy. So
f.ei to-dav that l am standing be-
fore peopls who Will yet have
their hand On the helm of the
words commerce. and you will turn il
this way or that; now clerks, but to be
bankers, importers, insurance company
directors, shippers, contractors. superin
a.,
Ton n~e''--standing foremost in tho
great financial and religious enterprises
of the day Fer, though we who are in
the professions may, on the platform,
plead for the philanthropies, after all the
merchants must come with their millions
to sustain the movement
BE, therefore, patient and diliscnt in
This transient position. You are now
where You can learn things you can never
learn in any other place. What you con.
slider your disadvantages are your grand
opportunity. You see an afIluent father
some day come down on prominent
street with his son, who has just gradu-
ated from the university. and establish
ing him in business. putting SEQ 600 Of
capital in the store. Well, you are envi-
Gus. You saw:
young man-if only had father to put
$4,000 in business for me, then would
have some chance in the world.''
Be not envious. You have advantages
over that young man which he has no,
over YOU. AS well mi ght come down tc
the docks when a vessel is about to sail
for Valparaiso, and say:
''Let me pilot this ship out of the Mar
rows"
''Why, I would sink crew and cargo be-
fore got out of the harbor. simply be-
cause l know nothing about pilotage
The second counsel have to give to the
clerks who are here to-day, is that You
seek cut what are the lawful regulations
of your establishment and then submit
to them. Every well ordered house has
its usages. Ia military life, on ships
deck, in commercial life, there must be
order and discipline. Those people who
do not learn how TO obey. will never know
how to command. l will tell you what
young man will reach ruin. financial and
moral; il is the young man who thrusts his
thumb into his vest and SAYS:
ssNoboiy shall dictate TO me. am my own
master; will not submit to the regula-
tions of this house"
Between an establishment in which all
the employees are under thorough dis
cipline and the establishment in which
the employees do about as they choose, is
the difference between success and fail
ure-between rapid accumulation and
utter bankruptcy. Dc not come to the
store ten minutes after the time. Be there
within two seconds after. Do not think
any thing too insignificant to do we'll Do
not say:
Again, counsel clerks in this house TO
search OFT what are the unlawful and
dishonest demands of an establishment
and resist them In the six thousand
gears that has passed there has never